Nana is Here
by RiverOtter1
Summary: In which a grieving king is led on by his son. No slash, short fluffy one-shot. Enjoy!


_A/N: Hello everyone! Here's my second story, which I hope is better than the first. In this, Legolas is around the age 4 or 5 in human years. It has been about a week since Legolas' mother died. Plus, in case it isn't clear, Legolas does know his mother is dead. As before, there is no slash, nor Mary Sues. _

_Enjoy!_

Nana is Here

Tears.

Tears rolled down the face of the proud Elvenking. Hot, terrible, tears that would not stop. But Thranduil didn't try to stop them. Thranduil didn't care about his pride. He didn't care about anything. He just wanted to die.

He was nothing. Nothing but emptiness, yearning for her. Yearning for his wife. His beautiful, beautiful wife. He hadn't eaten for days. He hadn't laughed for days. He hadn't felt the sun's smile for days. For days, he had not loved.

And Thranduil did not care.

For how could you care about anything, when half of your heart was missing? The half that should have been filled.

He did not want to sleep, for fear of dreaming of his wife's final moments.

_Cries, screams …death._

Thranduil shook his head and pounded his fist on the table. But the gesture failed. He was too weighed down with grief to be angry. Too full of despair to be furious.

_She was gone. _

Thranduil let the tears come. Nothing mattered.

He had been angry. For hours, he had screamed and yelled at fate. He had roared at death, begging her, pleading to her to give him the answer to why she had done it.

Why had she taken his love?

Then, when the tidal wave of anger flowed into an ocean of misery, he had curled up and wept. He had become nothing.

How could you go on without your love?

How could you continue living, without your reason for life?

Thranduil let a sob escape his lips.

He shuddered with the sobs wracking his body, and he held his face in his hands.

She was gone.

She was gone, and he could do nothing.

His love, his wife, his hope.

She was gone.

He didn't want to remember her, for her face would bring back too many memories.

_I will forget her._

Thranduil had announced to himself. That was it. He simply would not think about her. She was gone from his life and that was that. Why, he didn't need her!

But even to himself, Thranduil was a terrible liar.

His golden hair spilled down his shoulders like silk, and his silver eyes swam with tears. He sat hunched in their room – _his _room.

Alone.

_She was gone. _

"_Tap…Tap…Tap…" _

A faint tapping was coming from the door. Thranduil ignored it. He didn't want to see anyone ever again. He didn't want to love again.

"_Tap…Tap...Tap…" _

He buried his face in his hands. '_Just leave me alone….'_

"_Tap…Tap…Tap…" _

"Leave me alone!" he roared, his voice breaking as another fit of sobs wracked his body.

Silence.

Thranduil sighed, and let his sadness swallow him up once more. He let it swallow him up until he was nothing. Nothing, but an empty shell.

And he didn't care.

"_Tap…Tap…Tap…" _

Thranduil felt rage boil in his heart, and it took every bit of self control he had not to lunge at the door and beat the knocker to a pulp.

"Who's there?" he asked through clenched teeth.

The door slowly creaked open to reveal the tiny figure of a little elf. Long blonde hair cascaded down to his shoulders, and his large blue eyes looked with wonder upon the king – upon his father.

The king's heart softened, and he ran to his son and scooped him up.

And there he saw his hope.

There, in large eyes of his son, he saw his wife.

_This _was the reason to go on. _This _was his life. His wonderful, _wonderful_ son. Legolas.

"Why do you cry Ada?" Legolas' small voice was muffled by Thranduil's shoulder.

Thranduil was silent.

"You can tell me, can't you Ada?" There in Legolas' voice rested a hint of hurt.

Thranduil closed his eyes tightly as he held his son closer.

He would never let him go.

"Sh-She's gone. And we can't do anything. She's _gone_." Thranduil felt tears stream down his boiling cheeks.

"No Ada." Legolas pushed from his father.

Thranduil's tears stopped, and he looked at his son with a forlorn expression.

"Yes, ion nin. She is gone."

Legolas shook his head, and at once jumped from Thranduil's arms. He landed with a soft thump on the wood floor, and brushed the dust off his tunic.

Legolas turned.

A small hand extended, a large one grasped tight.

"Come on Ada, I'll show you."

Thranduil could have smiled if his heart had not been so heavy.

And so, with a stumbling step, the grieving king followed his son.

Legolas crouched to the ground when they had reached the spot Thranduil knew so well. It was the pond that they had visited so often. He, Legolas, and his wife.

Legolas ran his small hands through the silvery water.

They had sat for hours by the still, clear pond, while the tiny figure of Legolas splashed and giggled through it. Delicate little dragonflies would buzz and glitter in the sun's gaze. The shimmering of the fish, the glinting of the water, the laughter…it was all merely a memory. Lost through time.

His wife had loved water. She had helped Legolas swim. Thranduil had watched fondly. How he had loved them.

But now, she was gone.

"See Ada?" Legolas' small voice brought him out of his memories.

Legolas smiled at Thranduil and whispered,

"Nana is here."

The sun smiled down upon the soft earth, where little flowers poked up from the soil and stretched in the light. Purple lilacs fell from trees like parasols. Daffodils blushed in the sun's warm embrace. Violets shyly turned their gaze on the two figures strolling down the path.

One old, one young. One despairing, one hopeful. One leading, one following.

The two stopped at a large white tree. The twisted, curled branches turned up to the sky, and lovely pink blossoms peppered the silver-green leaves.

Thranduil felt a tear fall from his eye as he remembered.

_This was his wife's tree. _

He remembered so long ago, when Legolas was only an infant. Thranduil had held their child, as his wife planted her tree.

She had tenderly turned up the rich soil, and put the tiny seedling in with gentle hands.

Legolas smiled and held his father's hand.

"Nana is here."

Legolas snuggled under the warm quilts as Thranduil planted a soft kiss on his forehead. He loved him so dearly. Golden light from a single candle warmed the room, and Legolas smiled at his father.

"Sleep, my little Greenleaf." Thranduil paused, unsure of what to say. Unsure of how to express the hope that had sprouted inside of him.

"Thank you, my dear child," He murmured. "_Thank you." _

Thranduil felt a tear trickle down his cheek.

He brushed a stray lock of hair from his son's soft face. Legolas grinned, and then cast a furtive glance around the room.

"You know what?" Legolas' eyes went wide as he leaned towards his father, beckoning him to come closer.

Thranduil leaned in close to hear, and while he did so, Legolas quickly kissed his cheek.

Thranduil smiled, and felt a tear of happiness roll down his cheek. His wife may be gone, but he still had his Legolas.

And just as Thranduil stood to leave, Legolas put a small arm on his father's.

Blue eyes met grey.

Legolas' small hand moved up to the left side of Thranduil's chest. There is rested as it felt the beating of his heart.

And Legolas whispered.

"Nana is here."

-------


End file.
